It Can't Be Real
by Sgt Leppard
Summary: The hellish nightmare continues. When will it end? Part 2 of my NOES/FE:F crossover shorts.


**A/N:** Back again with the second part in this crossover miniseries. This one is even weirder than the first. I mean, semiautomatic handguns don't exist in the world of Fates, but when Freddy's around, there are no rules. Also, you guys get a cookie if you figure out the two Easter eggs in this part.

This was a little interesting to write and kinda weird. There were several times I blanked on what should happen. But here it is! Tsubaki's part is up next and this three part crossover will come to a close.

Fire Emblem: Fates (c) Nintendo

Nightmare on Elm Street (c) New Line Cinema

* * *

What the hell kind of nightmare was that? Leon groaned and rubbed his face. "Ah!" he hissed as his hand ran over his cheek. Why did his cheek hurt? He looked at his hand and noticed it was bloodstained. No. There was no way. Lighting a candle, he immediately went to the nearest reflective surface in the room, which was the window. While it was difficult to see his reflection, there was no mistaking the dark liquid slowly sliding down his face.

How was that possible? How was that cut real? It was only a nightmare. It wasn't real. He remembered being told that dreams can sometimes be warped by reality. Maybe someone, likely Saizou or Takumi, came in while he was sleeping and cut his cheek open. The potential reasons varied, but it happened nonetheless. Despite chalking his newest injury up to lingering hate for his kingdom, ill will towards him, and for sick laughs among other possible reasons, he couldn't ignore the feeling in his gut that maybe... just maybe... what happened in his nightmare carried over into reality.

He swallowed that feeling as he grabbed a salve from his nightstand and went to the washroom. The cut wasn't too deep, thankfully, but it still stung like hell. At least washing the cut clean seemed to stop the bleeding. It would heal in time, and until he knew why it was there, he could simply explain it away to the others that it was just an injury from battle that got overlooked. Hell, maybe it was. He didn't exactly remember what he did once the battle had ended. If anything, he was certain he went straight to sleep without having his wounds treated. But if that were so, his leg wouldn't have been patched up. Something didn't add up.

Sighing, Leon splashed water on his face a couple of times and looked in the mirror. Aside from the cut on his cheek, he looked fine. Normal. However, he couldn't help but recall his nightmare. He didn't quite remember how it started, or how he even knew what all the unknown objects were in his nightmare and how to use them, but the rest of what transpired was vivid.

* * *

 _That bastard. Does he really think he can manipulate his own dreams? Well, he couldn't exactly do the same, but he could use what was around him to his advantage. Somehow, some way. Where the hell was he? "A shooting range?" This dream was proving to be very strange, but he had long since stopped questioning how he knew what everything was. Because honestly, why focus on such trivial things as peculiar places and items that he could name for some reason when there was a heavily burned man who calls himself Freddy Krueger out to kill him for seemingly no reason at all._

 _Leon decided to put his strategic tactics into play. A SIG Sauer was no Brynhildr, but all he could do was hope it got the job done. "So uncivilised." So long as he kept out of Freddy's field of vision, he just might get the upper hand on him._

 _"There's three tomatoes walking down the street. A papa tomato, a mama tomato, and a baby tomato." The prince could hear the man's voice from the far end of the range. Leon peered over the edge, but couldn't see anybody. "_ _The baby tomato starts lagging behind. The papa tomato gets angry, goes over to the baby tomato, and squashes him and says..."_

 _Freddy suddenly appeared right beside him, smiling sadistically. "Catch up."_

 _"AAHHH!" Leon quickly backed away from him and fired the gun, but it didn't seem to affect him. What the hell?_

 _Freddy disappeared, only to reappear elsewhere. "You know, this is a very poor excuse for target practise."_

 _The pattern continued for several minutes. Leon would shoot at Freddy, who would teleport to another area and was unaffected by the bullets. Eventually Leon was down to his last clip. He needed to get out of here and fast. Off to his right was an emergency exit. If he was quick enough, he could escape._

 _Once he fired his last round, he dropped the gun and ran for the exit. Now where was he? A sewer apparently. Gods, the stench! Oh well, it was the last thing he should be worrying about. Leon ran down the pipelines, not even caring where he was going, but he wasn't paying attention. A loose stone caused him to trip, landing face first on cold, wet metal._

 _The sound of a child crying nearly startled him. Who was that? But if that was a child crying, why were there tears running down his own face? That fall didn't even hurt. Oh wait. It did. It hurt really badly. But it shouldn't have. He raised a hand to wipe his eyes to find they were a lot smaller. In fact, he shrunk. He was the child. How had he turned into a child? What was happening? He was wearing his bed clothes again, but they had shrunk to fit his much smaller figure._

 _"What's the matter, little boy?" Freddy reappeared once more, cornering the prince. "Don't know how to play tag?"_

 _Freddy then ran the tip of one of his knives down Leon's cheek, drawing blood. Leon winced in pained and cried softly. Why won't this nightmare end? The pain stung terribly, and this man was making it worse by taunting him. "You're mine now, little piggy."_

* * *

Leon couldn't remember what happened after that, but it didn't matter at that point. He was awake now, and thankfully adult sized. He could only imagine the hell others could've endured if they had to deal with that monster. Takumi would probably take it the worst. Most everyone else, namely Xander, Effie, even Ryouma, would outright murder the man and think nothing of it, but he wasn't so sure.

Sighing, he applied the salve to his cut and washed up. Maybe a bit of late night reading would do him some good. He returned to his room and grabbed the book from his nightstand. Learning about Hoshidan martial arts was definitely interesting. However, he hadn't been reading long when someone entered his room. He looked up and saw Takumi standing in the doorway. It seemed he had been having nightmares that night as well, but that was normal for him. What wasn't normal were the cuts on his forearm that certainly weren't there when the army had returned from battle. Even worse, Takumi was holding what looked to be Freddy's knife adorned glove.

No. That would mean... No, it can't be! "Not you too."

Takumi looked surprised. It seemed the both of them had been dealing with the same man in their dreams that night. How was that possible!? "What the hell is going on?"

"I wish I knew," Leon admitted. He quickly brought the Hoshidan prince to the washroom and cleaned up his still bleeding cuts, applying the salve afterwards.

Takumi sighed as he helped bandage up his wounds. "I know I'm the most prone to nightmares, but this is ridiculous. This shouldn't be happening."

"It's not supposed to happen, and yet..." It was Leon's turn to sigh. "I don't understand how this is possible."

"Do you think it's just us, or is it possible that everyone else has to deal with this man?"

Leon shrugged. "I don't know. I hope no one else has to put up with this bastard, but... why us? I mean, I get you, but... why come after me too?"

"I'd tell you the answer if I knew it," Takumi replied. "Should we tell anyone?"

"No one would likely believe us."

"But if he is going after everyone else, they have to know! They have to be on their guard!"

"I'm aware of that, Takumi." Leon shook his head. "If the others believe us, the last thing this army needs is to be put in a panic over someone attacking people in their sleep."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Takumi asked.

Leon thought for a moment. "For now, I say we keep this between us. If anyone else mentions anything like we experienced, then we start alerting people. As for personally... I guess we just do our best to keep our minds off of it. The less we think about it, the less likely it'll haunt us."

"Easy for you to say."

"Just try? Please?" Takumi was his best friend. He didn't want him to be thinking about this and cause Freddy to go after him again.

"Alright," he answered softly. "I'll try."

Leon smiled and patted his shoulder. "Come on." He led the way back to his own room and picked his book back up.

"Hoshidan martial arts?" Takumi raised an eyebrow. "I don't exactly picture you as a martial artist."

"Hey, I could try." As he flipped through the pages to find where he'd left off, something about his dream came to him. "If I may mention one thing from this ordeal..."

"I thought we weren't going to talk about it?"

"No, this has nothing to deal with _him._ " Which was true to an extent. "It's a joke of sorts."

"What is it?"

"There's a family of tomatoes – father, mother, and child – walking down the street. The child tomato starts to lag behind. The father tomato gets angry and goes over to the child tomato. Without hesitation, he squashes the child tomato and says, 'Catch up.'"

Takumi snorted. "That's a terrible joke."

"Yeah, but you're laughing."

"Shut up."


End file.
